Tokyo-based Sakana AI Raises $100M in Series A Funding

Sakana AI raised $100 million in a Series A funding round led by New Enterprise Associates, Khosla Ventures, and Lux Capital, with participation from Nvidia.
The Tokyo-based startup has partnered with Nvidia to develop AI technologies, focusing on nature-inspired, sustainable, and energy-efficient models.

Tokyo-based startup Sakana AI has partnered with Nvidia to advance Japan’s artificial intelligence landscape. This collaboration is part of Sakana AI’s mission to spur the democratization of AI in Japan, leveraging Nvidia’s accelerated computing platform to develop cutting-edge foundation models aimed at automating and speeding up scientific discovery.

“The team at Sakana AI is helping spur the democratization of AI in Japan by developing cutting-edge foundation models to automate and speed up scientific discovery with Nvidia’s accelerated computing platform,” said Jensen Huang, founder and CEO of Nvidia.

In a significant boost to its growth, Sakana AI recently secured $100 million in a Series A funding round led by New Enterprise Associates, Khosla Ventures, and Lux Capital, with participation from Nvidia.

The funds will be directed towards talent and infrastructure development, focusing on creating sustainable and energy-efficient AI technologies inspired by nature.

The startup, founded just a year ago by a team that includes Google researchers, aims to establish a world-class AI lab in Japan. This lab will develop technologies to help Japan and its allies address challenges throughout the 21st century. Sakana AI acknowledges Japan’s current AI talent landscape as technically limited compared to leading cities in China and the US, but the partnership with Nvidia is expected to elevate Japan’s AI community, promoting event hosting, hackathons, and university outreach.

This funding follows an earlier $30 million seed round in January, led by Lux Capital and supported by Khosla Ventures, along with other prominent investors. Sakana AI also boasts partnerships with NTT and investments from KDDI CVC and Sony Group.

Edited by Harshajit Sarmah